Getting Behind

We've had a busy week. I have to say, I'm so tired at the moment that I'm not sure I'll be very coherent as I write. If I don't get a few things posted, however, the giant week ahead will sweep by and then I'll be swamped.

I. Lizard Sitting:

This is a leopard gecko by the name of Lizzie. Lizzie belongs to the children of my friend Terri Lyn, and we have had the pleasure of her company for an entire week now as TL and her family have been visiting her home town of Seattle. (She might have cruised your house, Durham-friends...) Lizzie is well-mannered, easily held, and most importantly, non-stinky. I don't enjoy grabbing the meal worms she dines upon, but it could be worse. CTP wants a lizard for his upcoming 5th birthday and his excitement over Lizzie's visit was of such a magnitude initially that I was pretty sure I couldn't manage a full-time reptile. He talked of little else and wondered aloud such ponderings as, "What is Lizzie doing now? What about now? What position is she in now? How does she sleep? Can I feed her my sandwich? Does she like me?" in such a barrage that I got very near to going crazy. He's settled down now, and I'm frankly a little fond of Lizzie. Perhaps there is a leopard gecko in our future. We shall see.

II. A Last Burst of Summer:

We seem to have had a last burst of high summer heat this week. I'm hoping that it is the last - the forecast shows low 90's for the next week, and my hunch is that we've seen the last of the upper 90's and 100's. We gave our pool one last hurrah. My nieces were here for a bit, and the youngest, MG, celebrated by doing CTP's hair. It looks wet in this picture, but the shine was the result of the extra coats of hair gel. CTP was very proud of his new coif and demonstrated its pointy-ness to anyone who would listen.

III. Messy = Happy:

I don't think this photo does justice to the amount of ice cream plastering my kids. I had to take a scrub brush to the car seats, where the ice cream was consumed. Perhaps giving my kids ice cream in the car on a 100 degree day was not the best idea, but when you pass a Nielsen's Frozen Custard you just gotta stop.

IV. Dino Display:

Troy indulged in some time on Saturday morning to do something he's wanted to for a long time: find out exactly how too-far we've gone in the dinosaur department. Actually, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. This is a display of nearly every dinosaur Chase owns. It looks more impressive when they're all crammed into one gigantic plastic storage bin, but I think you get an idea of the magnitude.